Goodies to Go ™
July 14, 2003–Newsletter #241
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – A Thousand Words’
Worth
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Goodies Peer Reviews
* Feedback Goodies
* And Remember This…
Goodies Announcement
Just in case you missed
it before, the new Beyond HTML Goodies book is now available!
Go beyond the basics
and learn how the pros add and use dynamic HTML features and advanced
JavaScript techniques. Beyond HTML Goodies demonstrates dozens of new and
different features readers can add to their existing Web pages using HTML and
JavaScript. The book starts with simple text and image tips, such as adding a
clock to a Web page or causing text to appear when the mouse moves over an
image. It gradually builds to more complex tricks, including manipulating forms
or working with cookies behind the scenes. Throughout the book, readers enjoy
Joe’s snappy style and “to the point” discussion of each “goody” in the book.
http://books.internet.com/books/0789727803
Goodies Thoughts – A Thousand Words’ Worth
You can talk all you want, but some of your audience will still miss the point.
Imagine a company trying to sell their product and producing a website. The
company is Americas Finest Diamonds and the site discusses the attributes of
their product. It talks about the richness of the color, the durability and
smoothness of the surface, describing them as the kind of diamond everyone would
love and everyone would be proud of. Now imagine how much clearer the impression
would have been if they had included a photo of, say, Yankee Stadium to
illustrate the kind of diamond they deal with. Ah, yes indeed, a picture is
worth a thousand words!
Using photos on a website not only increases the immediate understanding your
audience gets and enhances the appeal of your product, but their judicious use
can make the visitor’s visit more enjoyable, more fun or more comfortable. Of
course, excessive use makes it slower and therefore more annoying, so you’ll
need to watch that balance. You can also alleviate the situation a little by
making sure the pictures are not too large. Check out this archived issue of
Goodies To Go for some more info on that point:
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters/201.html
While were on the subject of useful tools for adjusting your photos, you might
want to take a look at this article also:
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/toolbox/aftershot.html
Selecting the right photo is also important. My favorite tip for selecting
pictures is also the same for taking pictures. Have you ever taken a family
portrait and looked at the picture later only to find that the family members’
images are so small that you can hardly recognize them in front of the massive
building in the background? Imagine taking a picture of a duck only to look at
it later and realize that you have a photo of an expanse of water with a dark
indiscernible object near its center. The trick is to look at everything around
what you’re photographing and decide whether or not it belongs in the picture,
and only look at what you want to photograph after you have removed the clutter
from the frame. When selecting a picture, apply the same method. Make sure it is
a picture of what you want to show; not a picture of a panoramic background with
a minute example of your object somewhere near the middle. Of course you can
also crop the picture to eliminate the background. Just make sure that the
resulting image retains enough picture quality to still be a good example.
Another thing to watch out for is the legal question. If you took the photo
yourself, you have the right to use it how you wish (unless, of course, you’ve
sold that right!) If, however, you found the picture somewhere, it is very
important that you ensure you have the right to use it and are not violating a
copyright. The penalties for copyright infringement can be severe. It is much
cheaper to buy the right to use a photo. Graphic artists do this all the time,
getting their pictures from a stock photo library or agency. If you want to save
a bundle on the fees, however, you can subscribe to photos.com. They charge from
$99 for one month, to $499 for a year and you can get unlimited royalty free
pictures in a variety of formats (from web-ready to print-ready) from a
categorized collection of more than 50,000 photos. If you’ve checked out fees
before you’ll know that this is a bargain. If you don’t want to, or can’t
justify, paying a fee for the picture, then please, take your own picture —
don’t get caught with a copyright violation!
A friend of mine a while ago had just moved into a new apartment and was showing
me a photo of its interior. "I’m glad to see you feel really comfortable in your
new place," I told him, "check out the mirror!" Next time, I believe he will get
dressed before pulling out his camera; and maybe he’ll remember to look at all
the details before showing off his pictures!
Thanks for Reading!
– Vince Barnes
Q & A Goodies
Questions are taken from submissions to our Community Mentors. You can ask a Mentor a question by going to
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors.
Q. I want to modify all the <div> elements in a document. I will not know
before calling the JavaScript method how many <div> elements are in any document
so I need a way to get the number of <div> elements in a document. Looking at a
copy I have of the Document Object Model I can see there is a way of getting an
array of <a> elements. Is there a way of getting an array of <div> elements?
A. I found this script at another board. It may help you:
<html> <head>
<title>Finding Child Nodes</title>
<script language="JavaScript">
function find_child()
{
var divs = document.getElementsByTagName(‘div’);
var message = ‘There are ‘ + divs.length + ‘<div>’s in this page with
the following ids:n’;
for (var i = 0; i < divs.length; i++)
{message += divs.item(i).getAttribute(‘id’) + ‘n’;}
alert(message);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="mydiva">This is div a</div>
<div id="mydivb">This is div b</div>
<a href="javascript:find_child()">Click Me</a>
</body>
</html>
Q. I’m looking for a redirect script that works by months. I’ve seen
scripts that redirect based on the day of the week but not this. I have a simple
event calendar, one page per month, and I’d like the current month’s calendar to
open when someone clicks the "Calendar" link in the main navigation menu on any
page.
A. Here is an example of one way you could accomplish this:
<html> <head>
<title>Calendar of Events</title>
<script language="JavaScript">
myevents=new Array()
myevents[1]="january.html"
myevents[2]="february.html"
myevents[3]="march.html"
myevents[4]="april.html"
myevents[5]="may.html"
myevents[6]="june.html"
myevents[7]="july.html"
myevents[8]="august.html"
myevents[9]="september.html"
myevents[10]="october.html"
myevents[11]="november.html"
myevents[12]="december.html"
function getCal()
{
mydate=new Date
mymonth=mydate.getMonth()+1
location.href=myevents[mymonth]
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<a href="javascript:getCal()">Calendar</a>
</body>
</html>
Q. I have a pop up window that automaticlly loads behind the index page.
How do I stop it from reloading each time a vistor goes back to the home page?
Here is the code I have:
<script language="JavaScript">
function MyExit() {
var windowHandler = null;
windowHandler =
window.open (‘newsletter.html’,’Openme’,’width=375,height=365,scrollbars=auto,resizable=no’);
}
</script>
<script>
//Popup Window Script
function openpopup(){
var popurl="newsletter.html"
winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=500,height=400,scrollbars=yes")
window.focus();
}
openpopup()
</script>
A. Here is a link to a script that uses a cookie to keep it from poping
up every time in the same browser session.
http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/popunder.shtml
[& here’s a link to help you block those annoying pop-up and pop-under messages
<g>:
http://www.panicware.com – ed.]
Q. There is a HALO fan site on the web and they have some sort of title
generator that changes the title every time you load the site. How’d he do that?
A. It looks like they are using a Server Side language such as Perl or
PHP to do that, but you can use JavaScript. Here is an example:
<html> <head>
<title>Title change</title>
<script language="JavaScript">
mytitle=new Array()
mytitle[0]="New Title One"
mytitle[1]="New Title Two"
mytitle[2]="New Title Three"
mytitle[3]="New Title Four"
len=mytitle.length
randnm=Math.round(Math.random()*(len-1))
document.title=mytitle[randnm]
</script>
</head>
<body>
This is a test
</body>
</html>
Q. I know you can use onMouseOff and onMouseOver to control an image
flip, but I wonder if you could do the same with opening a new window by having
onMouseOver open a new window, and onMouseOff close that window. I’ve searched
on the page, and can’t find anywhere that shows how to close a window other than
the current one.
A. Here is an example of one way you could do it:
<html>
<head>
<title>Open Window</title>
<script language="JavaScript">
function OpenWin(theurl,w,h)
{
features="width="+w+",height="+h+",top=100,left=300"
NewWin=window.open(theurl,"win1",config=features)
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<a href="#" onMouseOver="OpenWin(‘page2.html’,’200′,’200′)"
onMouseOut="NewWin.close()">Mouse Over Me</a>
</body>
</html>
[Note that’s "onMouseOut",
not "onMouseOff" — Ed.]
News Goodies
Yahoo! to Buy Overture
[July 14, 2003] UPDATE: The deal marks Yahoo!’s boldest move in
search, scooping up paid search pioneer Overture for $1.6
billion.
Click
here to read the article
DOJ Clears Path for PeopleSoft to Buy J.D. Edwards
[July 14, 2003] The U.S. Department of Justice clears the way for PeopleSoft
to purchase J.D. Edwards, which could put a crimp in Oracle’s hostile bid to
acquire PeopleSoft.
Click
here to read the article
Computer Associates Kicks Off CA World
[July 14, 2003] UPDATE: The software company unfurls the latest banner
in its on-demand computing strategy, an asset mapping technology it calls
Sonar at its CA World event in Las Vegas; CA Chairman and CEO Sanjay Kumar
keynotes.
Click here to read the article
DoubleClick Takes Wraps Off Rich Media Product
[July 14, 2003] DART Motif, designed in collaboration with Macromedia, aims
to strip the complexity and high costs from deploying rich media.
Click here to read the article
Vindigo Takes City, Movie Guides to ALLTEL
[July 14, 2003] The mobile application developer adds ALLTEL to the growing
list of carriers offering its applications to customers.
Click here to read the article
Sybase Strengthens Linux Ties
[July 14, 2003] The integration company opens a Linux Competency Center
and takes on the mantle of Red Hat Premier ISV Partner.
Click here to read the article
AT&T Expands News Corp. Deal
[July 14, 2003] When Rupert Murdoch needs to contact underlings in his media
empire, AT&T will make it happen thanks to a new $150 million pact.
Click here to read the article
Unisys Jumpstarts Server Line with JVM
[July 14, 2003] The company claims to be the first to offer JVM for
high-performance, Windows-based server-side computing.
Click here to read the article
Jupitermedia Snaps Up DevX.com
[July 14, 2003] Looking to extend its developer resources, Jupitermedia
acquires the DevX.com Network.
Click here to read the article
Virus Alert: Worm Uses Own SMTP Engine to Spread
[July 10, 2003] A worm that spreads using its own SMTP
engine creates copies of itself in the Windows system
folder.
Click here to read the article
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reviews of the previous week’s selected site are chosen for
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Did you ever wish your newsletter was an easy two way communications medium?
Ploof! It now is!
If you would like to comment on the newsletter or expand/improve on something
you have seen in here, you can now send your input to:
mailto:nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com
We already receive a lot of email every day. This address will help us sort out
those relating specifically to this newsletter from all the rest. When you send
email to this address it may wind up being included in this section of the
newsletter, to be shared with your fellow readers.
Please don’t send your questions to this address.
They should be sent to our mentors: see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/
I mentioned this last week and this week am putting out a
"final call". Many thanks to all those who sent in to
volunteer their services. We’ll be in touch with every one
of you in the next week or so. Here it is again: The Mentor
Community is being revised. If you are interested in
becoming a Mentor and answering the kind of question you see
published in the Q&A section, please sent an email to
nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com with "Mentor Volunteer" as the
subject.
Thanks again for all your feedback!
Top
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1789
The Storming of the Bastille
Starting the French Revolution that led to the end of
the French monarchy and the formation of a constitutional
government in France, hundreds of Parisians began the
assault, or storming, of the Bastille. The Bastille had been
built originally as a fortification, but in the seventeenth
century it was converted into a state prison, and used to
hold dissidents and other political prisoners. It became a
symbol of the oppressive rule of the monarchy. In the
eighteenth century resentment against King Louis XVI led to
riots in the streets and on this day the storming of the
Bastille. When deserting French amry soldiers joined in,
bring five canons and aiming them at the Bastille,
Bernard-Jordan de Launay, governor of the Bastille,
surrendered. The monarchy was abolished in 1792, and Louis
XVI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette, were put to death by
guillotine for treason. July 14, Bastille Day, is a national
holiday in France.
Born today were: in 1903, novelist Irving Stone;
1910 Cartoonist William Hanna (Hanna-Barbera); 1911
actor Terry Thomas (Thomas Stevens); 1912 folk
singer-songwriter Woodie Guthrie (Dad to Arlo); 1913,
former US President Gerald Ford; 1918 film director
Ingmar Bergman;
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!
